Sweet Tooth: “A universal and relevant show”

By Miguel Bravo, MWN

‘Sweet Tooth’ is Netflix’s new post-apocalyptic series. In its world, a global cataclysm wreaked havoc around the world, making possible the mysterious appearance of hybrid beings, born half human and half animal. It is not known whether they are the cause or the result of a virus that frightens everyone. The last humans, those who survived the “end of the world” as they call it, fear them and begin a hunt.

This is when we meet Gus (Christian Convery), the main character, who is a deer/human hybrid. After 10 years of living in seclusion in his house, he meets a wanderer, Jepperd (Nonso Anozie). They become friends and set out on an adventure traveling through what is left of their country to seek answers about their origins. Of course, along the way, they will meet friends and enemies, which will make them realize how dangerous the world is right now.

The story is based on the comic book series of the same name, published by DC and author Jeff Lemire. Metro recently sat down with Lemire to learn more. 

There are some significant creative differences between the series and the original story. How do you feel about these changes?

Yeah, having created Sweet Tooth in 2008-2009, it’s been over a decade since the comic was released. There’s been a lot of post-apocalyptic fiction and post-apocalyptic stories on TV and in film since then. I think it was natural to have to make changes to make the story feel fresh and not something we’ve seen dozens of times.

I don’t have a problem with changes, I think every adaptation is going to be different from the source material. General themes and characters are still there, maybe the path they take will be a little bit different but that’s normal. The comic will always be the comic and nothing is going to change that. I think the show and the comic can exist separately and still complement each other.

What is the best thing that was adapted?

The best thing, for me—it’s the little details that I love that were adapted. The shirt that Gus wears in the comics, for example. They specially made that fabric to be exactly the same. It’s little details like that, they’re very cool. When I was on set during the filming of the pilot, they had rolls of fabric hanging up that were printed exactly to match the fabric from the comic book. I think that was pretty cool.

I love that the character of Wendy, the little pig girl, is already a big part of the narrative, because she was always—aside from Gus—she was always my favorite character. I’m really glad she’s in the series.

Did you ever think your original narrative would be so close to reality in the future?

If I had known what the future would hold, I probably wouldn’t have written the story because I would have been so intimidated by it. I wrote the story about a decade ago and it came out of a long history of dystopia and apocalypse fiction. I wrote it with no idea what was coming but the pandemic has changed us in a way. Now the show becomes even more universal, more relevant. But obviously, I couldn’t have predicted it.